Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play

The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play was an award presented annually at the Lucille Lortel Awards to honor an actress for excellence in a leading role in an Off-Broadway production. The categories were split into Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical in 2014.^[3] The acting categories were made gender-neutral in 2021.^[4]

Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play
Awarded for	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play
Location	United States
Presented by	The Off-Broadway League[1][2]
Currently held by	Emily Davis for Is This a Room (2020)
Website	lortelaward.com

Nominees and recipients

  indicates the recipients

1990s

Year	Actress	Play	Character
1992	Eileen Atkins	A Room of One’s Own	Virginia Woolf
1993	Anna Deavere Smith	Fires in the Mirror	All
1994	Myra Carter	Three Tall Women	A
1995	Linda Lavin (Tie)	Death Defying Acts	Dorothy/Carol
	Eileen Atkins (Tie)	Vita & Virginia	Virginia Woolf
1996	Uta Hagen	Mrs. Klein	Mrs. Klein
1997	Mary-Louise Parker	How I Learned to Drive	Li'l Bit
1998	Cherry Jones	Pride’s Crossing	Mabel Tidings/Bigelow
1999	Kathleen Chalfant	Wit	Vivian Bearing, Ph.D.

2000s

Year	Actress	Play	Character
2000	Eileen Heckart	The Waverly Gallery
2001	Mary-Louise Parker	Proof	Catherine
	Eileen Atkins	The Unexpected Man	The Woman
	Janie Dee	Comic Potential	Jacie Triplethree
	Mary Beth Fisher	Boy Gets Girl	Theresa Bedell
	Marian Seldes	The Play About the Baby	Woman
2002	Linda Emond	Homebody/Kabul	The Homebody
	Ruby Dee	Saint Lucy’s Eyes	N/A
	Martha Plimpton	Hobson’s Choice	Maggie Hobson
	Phylicia Rashad	Blue	Peggy Clark
	Elaine Stritch	Elaine Stritch At Liberty	N/A
2003	Tovah Feldshuh	Golda's Balcony	Golda Meir
	S. Epatha Merkerson	Fucking A	Hester Smith
	Kate Mulgrew	Tea at Five	Katharine Hepburn
	Pamela Payton-Wright	Fifth of July	Sally Friedman
	Parker Posey	Fifth of July	Gwen Landis
2004	Tonya Pinkins	Caroline, or Change	Caroline Thibodeaux
	Lisa Emery	Iron	Fay
	Jayne Houdyshell	Well	Ensemble
	Swoosie Kurtz	Frozen	Nancy
	Zilah Mendoza	Living Out	Ana Hernandez
2005	Cherry Jones	Doubt	Sister Aloysius
	Ashlie Atkinson	Fat Pig	Helen
	Viola Davis	Intimate Apparel	Esther
	Judy Kaye	Souvenir	Florence Foster Jenkins
	Elizabeth Marvel	Hedda Gabler	Hedda Gabler
2006	Lois Smith	The Trip to Bountiful	Carrie Watts
	Jennifer Jason Leigh	Abigail's Party	Beverly
	S. Epatha Merkerson	Birdie Blue	Birdie
	Julie White	The Little Dog Laughed	Diane
	Dianne Wiest	Third	Laurie Jameson
2007	Gloria Reuben	Stuff Happens	Condoleezza Rice
	Rebecca Brooksher	Dying City	Kelly
	Jill Clayburgh	The Busy World Is Hushed	Hannah
	Patricia Heaton	The Scene	Stella
	Laila Robins	Sore Throats	Judy
2008	Elizabeth Franz	The Piano Teacher	Mrs. K
	Lisa Gay Hamilton	Ohio State Murders	Suzanne Alexander
	Jayne Houdyshell	The Receptionist	Beverly Wilkins
	Alison Pill	Blackbird	Una
	Lynn Redgrave	Grace	Grace
2009	Saidah Arrika Ekulona	Ruined	Mama Nadi
	Ellen Burstyn	The Little Flower of East Orange	Therese Marie
	Carmen M. Herlihy	crooked	Maribel
	Kellie Overbey	The Savannah Disputation	Melissa
	Annie Parisse	Becky Shaw	Becky

2010s

Year	Actress	Play	Character	Ref.
2010	Judith Ivey	The Glass Menagerie	Amanda Wingfield
	Nina Arianda	Venus in Fur	Vanda
	Jayne Houdyshell	Coraline	Coraline
	Cristin Milioti	Stunning	Lily Schwecky
	Sherie Rene Scott	Everyday Rapture	Sherie Rene Scott
2011	Laurie Metcalf	The Other Place	Juliana
	Tracee Chimo	Bachelorette	Regan
	Edie Falco	This Wide Night	Lorraine
	Elizabeth Marvel	The Little Foxes	Regina Giddens
	Michele Pawk	A Small Fire	Emily Bridges
2012	Sanaa Lathan	By the Way, Meet Vera Stark	Vera Stark
	Cristin Milioti	Once	Girl
	Carey Mulligan	Through a Glass Darkly	Karin
	Molly Ranson	Carrie	Carrie
	Mary Testa	Queen of the Mist	Annie Edson Taylor
2013	Roslyn Ruff	The Piano Lesson	Berniece	[5]
	Quincy Tyler Bernstine	Neva	Masha
	America Ferrera	Bethany	Crystal
	Vanessa Redgrave	The Revisionist	Maria
	Sharon Washington	Wild With Happy	Adelaide/Aunt Glo
2014	Tracee Chimo	Bad Jews	Daphna
	Diane Davis	The Model Apartment	Debby
	Carolyn McCormick	The Open House	Mother
	Laurie Metcalf	Domesticated	Judy
	Andrus Nichols	Bedlam's Hamlet and Saint Joan	Actor #2/Gertrude/Ophelia/Joan/Others
2015	Tonya Pinkins	Rasheeda Speaking	Jaclyn	[6]
	Quincy Tyler Bernstine	Grand Concourse	Shelly
	Anna Gunn	Sex With Strangers	Olivia
	Jan Maxwell	The City of Conversation	Hester Ferris
	S. Epatha Merkerson	While I Yet Live	Maxine
2016	Phylicia Rashad	Head of Passes	Shelah	[7]
	Ito Aghayere	Familiar	Nyasha
	Georgia Engel	John	Mertis Katherine Graven
	Jayne Houdyshell	The Humans	Deirdre
	Chinasa Ogbuagu	Sojourners	Abasiama
2017	Jennifer Ehle	Oslo	Mona	[8]
	Johanna Day	Sweat	Tracey
	Jennifer Kidwell	Underground Railroad Game	Teacher Caroline
	Kecia Lewis	Marie and Rosetta	Sister Rosetta Tharpe
	Maryann Plunkett	Women of a Certain Age	Mary
2018	Carrie Coon	Mary Jane	Mary Jane	[9]
	Quincy Tyler Bernstine	The Amateurs	Hollis
	MaameYaa Boafo	School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play	Paulina Sarpong
	Cristin Milioti	After the Blast	Anna
	Karen Pittman	Pipeline	Nya
2019	Quincy Tyler Bernstine	Marys Seacole	Mary	[10]
	Ako	God Said This	Masako
	Marin Ireland	Blue Ridge	Alison
	Zainab Jah	Boesman and Lena	Lena
	Charlayne Woodard	Daddy	Zora

2020s

Year	Actress	Play	Character	Ref.
2020	Emily Davis	Is This a Room	Reality Winner	[11]
	Liza Colón-Zayas	Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven	Sarge
	April Matthis	Toni Stone	Toni Stone
	Zoë Winters	Heroes of the Fourth Turning	Teresa
	Kara Young	All the Natalie Portmans	Keyonna

Multiple awards

• Eileen Atkins, 2 awards for Lead Actress^[12]
• Cherry Jones, 2 Awards for Lead Actress
• Mary-Louise Parker, 2 awards for Lead Actress

Most nominations without a win

• Jayne Houdyshell (4 nominations)
• S. Epatha Merkerson (3 nominations)
• Cristin Milioti (2 nominations) (Plus one for Lead Actress in a Musical)

See also

• Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress (Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway)
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway)